Holiday Shopping Guide #27: The Top 12 Apps For iPhone, iPad, And Mac

With the 2012 election far behind us (and the fiscal cliff just ahead), it’s time to focus on what really matters. Holiday shopping. What better way to enjoy the holidays than by giving gifts and receiving gifts. At the same time.

Yes, boys and girls, guys and gals, using the time honored Value Vixen™ approach to gifts, you get in return exactly the gifts you give. What’s my secret shopping sauce?

Give, And Ye Shall Receive

My kind of shopping logic is flawless. Everyone knows it is better to give than to receive, right? That sounds great in concept, and, there is a warm and fuzzy associated with giving.

Consider this. If giving is good, and getting is good, imagine how great you’ll feel if you give yourself a gift, too.

Flawless logic, no? Alright, what better way to approach gift giving than making sure your iPhone, iPad, or Mac have their respective places on your gift giving list.

Doesn’t your Mac just seem to work better when you have a couple of new apps to use?

Everyone everywhere already knows that the iPhone actually performs better when you fill it up with apps and games. Of course, it’s only fair to do the same thing to your iPad. Think of it as a digital gift giving equivalency.

First on the list is the iPhone with 4 great applications to know and love and give and get.

RunKeeper: Use the iPhone’s GPS to track your jogging, cycling, and walking, and calories burned with RunKeeper. Free is difficult to feel as if you’ve over indulged on the gifts, right?

Skype: What better way to keep in touch than staying at arm’s length? Or, across the country. Use Skype to show your face to those whose faces are not so near, but still very dear.

Evernote: Is there a better app to sync notes and files and snippets and puppy dog tails between Mac, iPhone, and iPad than Evernote? It’s priced right if you don’t use it too much.

RedLaser: If ever there was an app that should be first on your iPhone app shopping list, it’s RedLaser. Use it to scan bar codes and QR codes and find the lowest prices online. Comparison shopping was never easier.

Yelp: If you gotta know where to go, and do what other discerning high brows like your good self do, you need Yelp. No app is better at giving you user reviews of places you want to visit (or, not, after you read the reviews).

One of the best things about Apple’s iPad is that it’s just like an iPod touch, but bigger. That means iPad apps have to be bigger to match the screen. What’s tops on my iPad list?

GoodReader: Finally, a good way to annotate PDFs on the iPad. GoodReader does that an more. Read PDFs, Office docs, Safari webarchives, and much more. Not free, but worth it.

Notability: Here’s a less expensive app that fills in what GoodReader leaves out. Notability takes notes, syncs with Dropbox, does sketches and drawings, and records audio. Nothing is better for classroom or meetings.

500px: The iPhone 5’s built-in camera rivals the point and shoot world, so why not have a good place to share photos? That’s 500px. Beware. The photos displayed on 500px are usually very good, but that will help you to sharpen your photo game.

TiVo: Until Apple redefines television viewing with every TV show and movie on demand, there’s TiVo. What better way to control TiVo than with your iPad?

Mac users need a little love, so make sure to be balanced with your shopping. When you give a gift to your Mac you get a gift from your Mac.

Reeder: This is the top RSS reader for the Mac (also available for iPhone and iPad). Reeder syncs with Google Reader (not that there’s anything wrong with that), and gives you a smooth and traditional view of hundreds of websites.

Opus Domini: What better way to say I love myself, than with a to-do list, personal planner, and time management app all rolled up into one package? That’s Opus Domini (also with iPhone and iPad versions for easy syncing).

Snapheal: You’ve got iPhoto, but other than storing photos, sharing photos, what does it really do to enhance your photos? Not much. Enter Snapheal, the little Mac app that erases unwanted objects from your photos? It erases poles, airplanes, birds, bushes, rocks, pimples, tattoos, scars, telephone lines, stray cats, and anything else that gets in the way of a good photograph.

There they are, and just in time for the holidays. The Top 12 iPhone, iPad, and Mac apps to give to yourself. Five for the iPhone, four for the iPad, and three for the Mac. That’s 12, right? Maybe I should have included a calculator.

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About Alexis Kayhill

I'm a 20 year Mac user veteran, writer, photographer, wife, and mommy. I live in sunny San Diego with my husband, three children, two dogs, one mean old cat, and an SUV with a back seat full of beach sand. Read more of my articles here.

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